1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for unloading individual reels from a carrier member on which a plurality of reels are stacked next to one another in several rows, and one on top of the other in several layers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many packaging machines, such as wrapping machines and tube bag machines, the packaging material, such as paper, aluminum foil, plastic sheets, or laminates, are consumed from spools, which are also known as reels. These reels must generally be manually placed in front of an unwinding device, be loaded on the latter, and subsequently be secured thereon.
Since with regard to increasing the speed of such packaging machines, the lifting, loading, and securing of the reels on the unwinding device cannot be expected of the predominantly female operators, apparatus were developed for holding a supply of reels for a longer operating time, with the reels being loaded onto the unwinding device next to one another. The drawback of such a heretofore known apparatus is that it must be manually loaded and controlled.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus with which reels can be removed directly and fully automatically from a conventional transport device, such as a pallet, and can be supplied to a packaging machine, where the reels are similarly fully automatically secured and threaded.